Watch this Illinois Issues Forum from Naperville. Our 2018 election coverage continues with a discussion of economic development in the collar counties of Chicago and how the state issues influence their well-being.

This forum is produced and hosted by NPR Illinois with support provided by AARP Illinois.

Charities are finding themselves asked to step in to help pay for services and programs that were previously in the government's domain. It seems to be an increasing trend since the economy took a dip several years ago.

Private fundraising for government programs is not necessarily new. State universities have long engaged in fundraising, especially with their alumni and elementary school groups have long held bake sales.

Rather, it’s the conclusion of a report issued last month by the Fiscal Policy Center at Voices for Illinois Children, a nonpartisan advocacy organization for the state’s youngsters (Poor Finances, Uncertainty about Looming Revenue Collapse Threaten State Economy).

Thursday's unemployment numbers show Decatur is once again lagging the rest of Illinois. That long-term trend is partly responsible for a new law aimed at changing the way Illinois handles economic development.

In Decatur, 13.2 percent of job-seekers can't find work. State Sen. Andy Manar — a Democrat whose district includes Decatur — says that's part of the reason he thought it was time to blow up the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity and start over.

A national depression hammered industry and related businesses, and layoffs pushed the local unemployment rate near 25 percent, the highest of any municipality in the country. City Hall ran late on health insurance premiums for its own employees. And the housing market hit bottom. In 1982, only 16 homes were built in this city southwest of Chicago.

"Things got so bad then that they could only issue us one bullet," says Joliet Mayor Arthur Schultz, a police lieutenant at the time.